probe | GRAVEYARD ✨

POPULATION: GHOST TOWN

You die - and then you wake up.

For a second, it feels as though you can't breathe, and then your head breaks the surface. You crawl out of a pool of blood and into a large, crystalline room. Moving images play across the crystal walls, and if you watch close enough, you'll realize that you're seeing the land of the living; a familiar space station with familiar faces. You can watch these images for as long as you'd like - there are several very large benches (as in, you have to climb them to sit on them) around the room for you to rest on while you do.

Regardless of how you died, it seems as though you're not quite gone completely. You're in one piece, at least. That's good news. However, your surroundings are not exactly what you remember.

When you exit the first room, a bleak, empty city sprawls out ahead of you.

The city itself is large. The framework of it seems to tower higher and higher than you can see, up into the black opal sky that shivers and curls every so often. A river entirely made of blood runs through the city, winding around buildings and ending at the crystal room. The most noticeable thing about the buildings themselves is the fact that thorny vines made of pure white steel dig into the walls and floor, cracking the foundations.

The residential building is worn down and old. It's two floors, and has a few small studio apartments built for one or two people to live in. The beds are extremely uncomfortable. It has a communal area downstairs, but the TV is broken, and the couches are torn apart. Sometimes, this building feels obscenely hot in temperature, and smells like rotten eggs.

The grocery store is your typical convenience store. There's a large selection of food in this area, but it all tastes the same - like chalk. On top of this, every so often there will be bloodstains on the walls, the floor, and the displays. They change in size and location, each time you enter the store.

The clothing store is thrifty in nature. All the clothes here are uncomfortable and scratchy, and don't fit quite right. While you're here, time feels... weird. Distorted, almost dreamy. As you're picking out clothes and trying them on (no money needed, just take what you want), you swear you can hear a gunshot in the distance.

Enjoy your time in this city, and remember...your story isn't quite over yet.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Who is this man, indeed?]

[And in fact, Douman catches sight of Omi and just...stares at him for a long while.]

...I-I...I shouldn't be alive like this. [Just mumbling to themselves.] If I die now then that thing should die, too, right-?

[AND ACTUALLY TRIES TO CRAWL BACK INTO THE POOL OF BLOOD TO DROWN THEMSELVES???]

I uh-

[Shit. He puts a hand on Douman's shoulder and tries to keep them from drowning again???]

What thing?

[Tries to shrug him off!! They're still weeping, but their tone turns up, a bit hysterical.]

Let me-! Eradicate the consequences of my heartless deeds-! I need not that future-!

Hey! You're already dead!

We're all dead!

...

[They stop in their progress, shaking.]

...I don't understand why they would keep me around like this, even in this afterlife. Better to destroy me thoroughly, before I become that monster. I-I don't want to take any chances. The amount of people I will hurt is...too many to mention.

[They glance to Omi, and break out into tears.]

I-I'm so sorry.

Uh... I don't know if I should accept that apology at this point...

[Well it's not really okay! It's not okay that Omi was poisoned, and honestly he's still mad about that.

But what is with this?]

I don't even know if we can die again while we're here.

I don't care if you do. You didn't deserve to be here. And I don't deserve to take another breath.

[Just looking away.]

And I don't care about that, either. I'm a stain upon history. While I'm still in my right mind, I'd rather the man named as Ashiya Douman be destroyed forever than keep persisting like...like some parasite!

Do you... want help?

[This is so insane, he has no idea what he's saying or what he's supposed to be feeling right now.]

Who... Who've I been rooming with this whole time?

...I don't know how you could help, but I don't want to make it out of this place. If my fate is to be stuck here for eternity, then so be it.

[They clench their fists on their own lap, eyebrows furrowing.]

Another form of me. The "Caster of Limbo". A wicked Servant who...apparently reflects what I will become in the future.

[A pause.]

They...wanted to learn love to become a Beast of Humanity.

Yeah, I don't think I can do anything about that.

[He has. No idea how this whole death thing is supposed to work.]

I don't know what a Beast of Humanity is, but... I'm glad you're... you now?

[This conversation is so weird.]

...

[Just hangs their head.]

Its a blessing to be freed from that curse, but...I don't want to think about what I will become, either.

[They glance to Omi, and down again.]

...Limbo was quite close in reaching his goal, you know. It was...terrifying.

[He's just going to take a seat here on the ground.]

What was their goal?

To know what love is. Limbo didn't know...love. But in order to become a Beast of Humanity, a calamity that can destroy humanity at its core...they needed to love humanity. That was the only thing they were lacking.

[Love humanity in order to destroy it. Poetic, huh.]

But for you...and some others...there were feelings that I could recognize as "love", I suppose.

[Stares vaguely out into the distance.]

Then it's a good thing that they were stopped... Sorry, you got possessed.

You shouldn't say "sorry" about my own weakness. It was my fault.

[Because in the end, Ashiya Douman is just a wretch of a man.]

And you need not comfort me. You have every right to hate me.